Warrior Cat Clans 2 (WCC2 aka Classic) is a roleplay site inspired by the Warrior series by Erin Hunter. Whether you are a fan of the books or new to the Warrior cats world, WCC2 offers a diverse environment with over a decade’s worth of lore for you - and your characters - to explore. Join us today and become a part of our ongoing story!
News & Updates
11.06.2022 The site has been transformed into an archive. Thank you for all the memories here!
Here on Classic we understand that sometimes life can get difficult and we struggle. We may need to receive advice, vent, know that we are not alone in our difficult times, or even just have someone listen to what's going on in our lives. In light of these times, we have created the support threads below that are open to all of our members at any time.
The leaffall day was a temperate one, with golden rays slanting in through the remaining maroon and copper leaves and spilling onto the forest floor. Orchidpaw had wandered away from camp, away from the place that still felt foreign, and into the forest that felt more like home to her. She was still unused to living with so many cats, and dealing with the constant social pressure sometimes wore on her.
Her sister, Rosepaw, was more at home among so many cats, but she was barely speaking to Orchidpaw at the moment. So, lonely and overwhelmed, the lithe white she-cat took to the forest. She wandered the border, trying to learn the scents of other clans, trying to calm her turbulent mind. The scar across Orchidpaw's face was barely healed, and still was a bright pink strip of skin that marred the soft features of her face.
Sniffing absently at a wildflower, she suddenly became aware of another presence, across the border in the unclaimed territory. She stiffened, raising her head silently to try to get a better whiff of the non-Summerclan scent. It didn't smell like any of the clans she recognized- could it be a loner? Would they attack? She was progressing quickly in her combat training, but if it were a full grown cat, she doubted that she stood a chance in a fight. So she remained still, watching with her vividly blue eyes for a sign of the other cat.
Though still scorched at the ends from the fire that had overtaken SunClan, his fur was beginning to smell less like singe and more like himself, as much as it could without his clan scent. It lacked the togetherness of living in large numbers, but in the recent vacancy, mint and wildberries and freedom stole into his identity-- and Crow wasn't unhappy about that fact. It was the barest glimmer of hope in his otherwise dismal world
His decision to leave his clan hadn't come randomly, but it also did not come easy. For much of his life he'd dreamt of stealing away into the night, leaving behind his burdens and the scorn he was so used to, but after his mother leaving he and his siblings in SunClan and his father's exile, he couldn't bear the thought of not being around to protect his littermates. Through hell and high water he would defend them. He was the lion protecting his pride. He would shoulder the curse thrust upon him, throw himself to the wolves, live in isolation a hundred times over-- for as long as it meant his beloved family could lead normal, happy lives. That would have been his life.
And then came the war. Then came Ghostcrown's return and subsequent departure, this time with two of his littermates.
So Crow took all his righteous anger and marched with it right out of camp. He hadn't stopped in what felt like ages, not until now. Slowly, his hot-footed stalk had shifted to something akin to ambling, save for the jetky limp he still wasn't used to. He took a moment to drink in the sights and smells around him. It seemed vastly different here; used to sands and deserts, the lushness here was awe-inspiring. So focused on what was around him visually, he'd let down his guard and didn't notice his approach towards SummerClan territory-- or the apprentice across it. It jarred him suddenly, and he found himself nearly at a loss of what to say. "Uhh, hey," is what he settled on after a long silence. It sounded as meek as he felt.
"Hello," Orchidpaw responded cautiously, taking in the black-furred tom who smelled faintly of smoke. He hadn't crossed the border, so she didn't make any moves of aggression, but she doubted that if he did she would be able to muster up an intimidating presence. Orchidpaw was far from intimidating, with her steady gaze and her soft white pelt that still spoke of the gentleness of her upbringing.
This tom seemed about her age, maybe a moon or two older. It was a strange scene, two opposite colored apprentices watching each other in the cool afternoon sunlight, both too startled and meek to muster up any arrogant confrontation.
"So..." she continued, shifting between her feet slowly. "I think Summerclan would have me ask you to avoid coming too close. You're quite near the border, you know. I'm still getting used to this clan thing, and I'm not on an official patrol, but I think I have the authority to ask you to be cautious." The speech seemed mild and gentle, coming across as composed despite Orchidpaw's nerves. "Are you part of a clan?" Not that it mattered really, but her curiosity was getting the better of her.
SunClan was not the most accepting to outsiders, and he couldn't recall life as a rogue way back when he was a kitten bumbling in his mother's footsteps. It was all he knew: That all clans would chase on sight and purge their borders of intruders. But he wasn't an intruder, was he? His paws were firm on unmarked soil. He did not prowl deviously towards clan territory. The unspoken laws still bound him, plain and simply, so perhaps the heat she lacked was justified.
Sun-chipped eyes gazed warily at her in the same manner that her crystalline eyes regarded him. "I didn't mean to come this close. I didn't realize I was even near SummerClan." His words carried a frown in their wake. SummerClan, thought the wanderer dismally. He was further from his former home than he thought; how had time marched by without him noticing? It must have been due to the limp-- he couldn't keep up with the days anymore. "But no, I'm not part of a clan anymore. Are you?" There was a teasing lilt embedded now, and the edges of his maw turned upwards in the shadows of Crow's dark visage.
"I believe you," Orchidpaw said candidly, blinking slowly at the newcomer. She wasn't sure who this tom was, but she didn't feel threatened by him in the least. Her scar itched, and she raised a paw absently to rub at her cheek. Maybe if she was a true clan cat, she would have been more assertive- but then, Summerclan seemed welcoming enough.
Faintly, she echoed the smile, but it was empty. She didn't know when a real smile would come back, but with everything going on- the brutal deaths of her parents, the rejection of her sister, the overwhelming feeling of being in an unfamiliar place- she couldn't be quite as lighthearted as she wished she could be. "I suppose I am, now," she said with a shrug. "I just joined Summerclan with my sister a month or two ago. We're still training as apprentices, though the other apprentices are younger than us."
There was no mention of before the clan. Orchidpaw couldn't make herself think of it. There was only now, as confusing as now was. "Why did you leave your clan?" She asked, more brazen than she would've been with her clanmates. The surprise of meeting a stranger had washed away some of her shyness, and she had picked up on the phrasing of his answer.
He appreciated the sentiment, relieved to find that his word still held weight and meaning, and he was quick to verbalize his feelings with a breezy "Thank you." He was no warmonger or even remotely malevolent nor did he come with the intent to disrupt anyone's peace-- but she had no reason to believe that other than his own claim, so when she accepted it at its face value, his faith in others' kindness was restored a bit.
Though his relief was soon replaced by hesitation, the tom cursing himself for his impromptu response which had seemed so natural yet gave a headway towards an avenue of questioning he didn't want to venture down. How could he even begin to put it simply? It made him chuckle, a dry hollow sound. "Gee, we've just met and you don't even know my name. That information comes on a first-name-basis and you'll have to answer my question in return. How about that?" The healing scar across her face was a curiosity all its own, but he was no fool to miss her own admissions, the fact that she was just 'now' an apprentice of SummerClan, and an older one at that. Technically, he was also an older apprentice. Had he stayed in his clan, his warrior ceremony would be just cresting the horizon. What would his name have been?
Nothing good, Crow told himself. With how the clan viewed his prefix, his suffix would likely have been influenced by those beliefs.
Orchidpaw could sense something of herself in this stranger, she realized, and it was part of the reason she wasn't scared of him. There was some of that heaviness, some of the sense of an imperfect past. It kept her from truly connecting with some of her bright and cheerful clanmates, but perhaps there was a chance to make a friend who could understand the pain she couldn't seem to verbalize.
It wasn't against the rules to chat. She sank down into a seated position, draping her puffed white tail over her small front paws. "Fair enough," she responded, with a twitch of her whiskers. "I'm Orchidpaw. Formerly Orchid. What do you want to know?" She found that her curiosity about this wandering apprentice was strong enough to merit trading away information about herself. He could receive the abridged version- she herself didn't want to relive the nitty-gritty details.
As she began to answer, he settled himself down across from her and tucked his paws beneath him, the pads worn from walking. Sometime soon he would need to choose somewhere to shelter and rest, but that was a problem for later. "Nice to meet you, Orchidpaw, formerly Orchid." Crow had never thought himself funny, with a more quick-wit humor and cynicism, but he did seem amused by his dad jokes. "My name is Crow. Formerly Crowpaw."
He took a moment to study her. She didn't give away much more than he did, her voice even and responses vague, but that in itself was telling, just as much as her obvious scar. Though still young in the grand scheme of things, he'd begun to learn that. oftentimes, the things left unsaid were the things that said the most. His own past and his apprehension in regards to sharing it supported that belief. "Where did you live before SummerClan?" He asked after the moment's lull.
"Crow," Orchidpaw repeated after the black tom, nodding to herself as she filed away the name. The joke brought another empty smile to her lips, more of recognition than of actual humor. His question was simple enough, but it brought back a flood of memories- sweet smelling summer flowers, the pride in her parent's eyes, the crimson blood that rushed from their throats. She fought back a grimace.
Orchidpaw shrugged in response. "Nowhere in particular. I believe the clans call us loners, but we were just... us. My parents and my sister and me. We moved around a lot, and we knew a little about the clans but not much. When my parents died two months ago, my sister and I came here." There was an obvious connection between her parents death and her two months healed wound, but she didn't feel the need to speak it out loud.
"I recently started training as a warrior, and my sister has been training as a Garden Keeper." Though Rosepaw wasn't terribly happy about that. "Your turn. Why did you leave your clan?" She didn't expect a full backstory- she'd hardly given hers- but she did want to know if he'd done something to be cast out or if he'd left on his own accord.
She may not have exhibited an outward sign of her hidden turmoil, but suppressing the anguish from injecting into the air wasn't so easy. He picked up on the tension, debated addressing it, then ultimately opted to err on the side of caution. Orchidpaw did not strike him as the hostile sort, but he knew from his own experiences that trauma was not a subject to be picked and prodded at. It had a way of bringing out the worst sides of the afflicted.
So instead he listened, and nodded when she finished, and let himself absorb what information she did deign to give him before drafting his selective response. "Well," he began slowly, "I left after the fire. My father took two of my siblings to SwiftClan and I chose to go my own way, which also meant leaving behind a clan that didn't really think I belonged there anyway. The name Crow is cursed in SunClan, so I guess you could say they were never very welcoming." Trickles of heat began to invade his tone. It brought with it a sense of familiarity, that honest anger which kept him warm during his many cold, lonely nights. "But before that, before SunClan, I was a loner with my mother and siblings. She left us to our father for training when we turned a moon old." He missed those days. Back when thr world was some fantastical giant filled with wonder where he could play infinite games with his littermates, long before he realized the world was actually very small and games were finite and being part of a large group did not mean that group considered you a part of it.
Shaking away these thoughts, he simpered. "My turn to ask. What's a garden keeper?"
"I'm a little ignorant of clan names and events," she confessed, her whiskers twitching again. "I've been holed up in the medicine cat for weeks. Swiftclan is the one that moves around? I heard someone mention it." She was curious about the superstition surrounding the name Crow, and why that would make one an outcast.
She could see through the anger to the sadness, where anger was often created, of being alienated. No wonder he had left. It was nice to know they had a little in common, in terms of their origin as loners. But apart from that, there seemed to be worlds between their background and the source of their trauma. Still, like drew to like and Orchidpaw found herself drawn to this solitary apprentice.
"A Garden Keeper is someone who tends to the herbs and gardens to keep the supplies up and the territory beautiful," she answered his question, in a tone reminiscent of reciting a definition. "It's for those who don't want to- or can't- fight." Her sister was the latter- she had started warrior training first, then broken down when asked to kill a mouse. Funny, since she hadn't even seen the death of her parents, and Orchidpaw had, but Orchidpaw was the one of them who had no issues with fighting- her trauma was all internal. "My turn- is Sunclan very religious? They seem superstitious if they care so much about a name that they would judge you for something beyond your control."
"Sorry, I forget that it's difficult to remember it all," he apologized sheepishly. He'd had similar problems when he was a kit adjusting to the clan's ways, often confusing all the s-named clans for one another. "But you're right. SwiftClan migrates all over. I think their leader keeps trying to leave without anyone noticing and the rest of the clan just follows anyway." Chimerastar was an enigma, but from what he'd seen of the leader during gatherings, he didn't seem too friendly.
Her definition of one of SummerClan's ranks had him pause, the silence pregnant with his thought babies. Then, "Interesting that they have a whole position for cats who don't fight. SunClan doesn't have that. Everyone trains to be warriors and hopes that one day they get chosen to be a Ray or part of the Janus." Not to mention that Garden Keepers would be utterly pointless in a clan that was notorious for its vengeance under Bloodystar's iron rule. The air was always ripe with electrifying friction; everyone snuck glances over their shoulders, anticipating an invasive rebuttal from one of the clans they'd made an enemy of.
"Yes, SunClan is very religious." Crow felt the urge to spit the word out of his mouth but refrained. "They worship a deity called the Sun God, who at some point and for some reason, told our HIgh Priest that anyone named Crow is marked for death because the three crows-- Crowlight, Crowluster, and Crowluminescence-- all died young. So I was just a bad omen to them. Anyway," it was said so loftily that they may as well have been discussing what prey was running that day, Crow attempting to mask his ire with an unaffected facade, "do you like it in SunmerClan? So far?"
"Wellllll, yes," she answered tenuously, seeming uncertain- not untruthful, but not entirely settled on whether she did or not. "It's so different. There's a part of me that misses my life with my family, but- well, that's impossible now." Her heart constricted once more at the knowledge that her parents were gone, that her relationship with Rosepaw was dangerously fractured.
"But they're nice here, and they think I have a talent for fighting- I'm not too shabby at hunting either. They welcomed me and my sister with open hearts, and that's something I can never repay. Even if there's rules about when I can't eat the prey I catch or who I have to defer to. I'm sorry that you couldn't find that in your clan. Sunclan sounds terrible." Orchidpaw wrinkled her nose sympathetically.
After a moment, she gave a wry chuckle. "You know, you're the first cat I've really discussed all this with. Sometimes it's easier to unload on strangers. Everyone in the clan is nice, but they're so lighthearted that most of them wouldn't understand. And my sister... well, she's not really speaking to me at the moment." Orchidpaw was surprised at her own openness once again, but there was something sympathetic about this joking, wounded cat named Crow that drew out her guarded emotions.
The joking, wounded cat named Crow permitted a jokingly wounded smile at her admission, for once the hurt in it only a tease. "Hey now, we aren't strangers anymore remember? We're on a first name basis, Orchidpaw. Formerly Orchid." His tail flourished from around his paws and swept up some of the leaves settled behind him, pensively considering the multitude of questions locked and loaded in his tongue. Why were she and her sister not on speaking terms? How could he and Orchidpaw be so alike yet so different? Why was SunClan so terrible?
But her sentiment was returned, evident in the glint of his smoldering eyes, embers chipped off the sinking sun. "I feel the same though. It is nice to talk to someone who understands at least a little bit. Maybe not wholly, but I know how it feels to lose family and to miss them." His brittle heart ached for his siblings. To be able to tease Desertpaw for his crazy creations or trade fiery jabs with Spiritpaw or share tongues with Raypaw. Raypaw. He wasn't sure what became of his sister after the inferno; he hadn't seen her leave with Ghostcrown and the others, so he could only assume the worst. Crow was too embittered to dare hope for the best.
"This might be a longshot, but you say your clan values your skills. Do you think you might be willing to teach me some of what you learn?" His eyes fell to where his bine-white claws pulled at the grass, embarrassed to admit that he really didn't know much in the way of fighting or hunting. The very basics, perhaps, but not enough to survive by himself if he intended to-- and he did-- live a rogue's lifestyle.
The soft white she-cat blinked at the request, taken by surprise. It wasn't... against the rules, as far as she knew, but somewhere in her mind she knew it wouldn't be encouraged. Still, she wasn't that much of a rule follower, and she wanted to see Crow again. So, surprising herself, she nodded.
"I won't lie to you and tell you I'm the best you've ever seen, but I know the basics by know and they teach me more every day. I can tell you what my mentor teaches me each day, if that works for you. It's a bit like the blind leading the blind, but it's better than nothing I suppose." A tiny, genuine smile crept onto her features- another surprise.
She glanced up at the golden sky, surprised at how quickly the day had slipped from her. "If that works for you, I can meet you here tomorrow evening, around sunset. I have to go on a hunting patrol tonight, but I'm usually free in the evenings." She didn't know why she was risking this new position in a clan that cared for her- teaching a loner, formerly from Sunclan, seemed exactly like what she shouldn't be doing. Her sharp, crystalline eyes turned back to Crow, and her mind was made up- she needed a friend. "Will I see you tomorrow, Crow- formerly Crowpaw?"
They were both full of surprises, he with his unusual request and she with that damn smile. It stripped away that outer resistance and allowed the smallest inkling of vulnerability to show, and it shined brighter than any star he'd ever seen in his lifetime. Crow decided there and then that he wanted to see that smile more, not the vacant one with no emotion she'd flashed before. "Y-yeah," he stammered, regaining his composure painfully slowly. "I'll be here tomorrow. I'll try to squeeze in some time in my busy schedule to catch us some prey, but ya know, life alone is always sooo busy."
He rose to his paws and turned to leave, then glimpsed over his shoulder to regard her one last time that day. "And Orchidpaw... You should smile like that more. It suits you." That said, he ducked his head and slid away-- at least, he intended to. In reality he bumbled back the way he'd come, limp a little more dramatized for humor's sake, and resisted the urge to steal another look back. That's how you stayed cool.
-- time skip --
Why he ever suggested he would be the one to bring food was beyond him, and Crow cursed his tongue for moving faster than his brain. Obvious handicap aside, it was so boring and expended a patience he did not always have, especially given his new method of hunting relied on the longcon. His stalk was too erratic to judge where his footfalls would land, every stray leaf a landmine, and he could not keep up with fleeing prey, so he was relegated to ambush hunting. Surprisingly, he was successful, his prize a single, fat lemming that practically jumped into his claws. Distantly, a memory of his father regaling old stories of his favorite meal emerged but was swiftly quashed. Not today.
Today, he ambled back down the path he'd taken the previous day, this time very aware of where he was heading. He was a shy bit earlier than the agreed upon time, but as he had nothing else to do, upon reaching the border he settled down to await the arrival of the cat with the starshine smile.
Orchidpaw watched the tom go, the compliment making her fur heat up as he left. Rosepaw was the impulsive sister, the flighty and easily attached one, but this interaction had affected Orchidpaw more than any she'd had with her clanmates, and for a moment she had been as impulsive as her sister. And she was surprised that she didn't regret it. Already she was waiting for the next night, to see Crow again.
----
She made up an excuse to leave camp the next night, murmuring something about an evening walk- not that anyone was really keeping tabs on her. Orchidpaw walked among the fluttering leaves, both nervous and excited to see this tom again. There was the thrill of doing something she wasn't supposed to, combined with an eagerness to hear a few more corny jokes. She found the tom at the border, and her eyes locked on him there was another brief smile, another flash of genuine excitement.
It wasn't a sustainable smile, since the worries and doubt quickly crept back in, squashing the glimmer of cheer, but it was more than she could experience at camp. "We should train out in the unclaimed territory," she said, glancing down at the lemming with an appreciative glance. "We'll eat first, then go over the fighting tricks I've learned so far, if that works for you." She was nervous now, worried that she would be a poor teacher, or be discovered, but her worries weren't enough to turn back.
"That's fine by me. There's a hollow a little distance away from here that would be suitable. It's open enough for training but the trees are clustered so no one should really notice." He warmed under the light of her quick smile, gone too soon but not unnoticed, and offered one of his own. It could not be as glowing as hers, formed out of shadows, but it was there and it was genuine all the same. He nudged the prey toward her with an outstretched paw, then asked conversationally, "How's your mentor? Do you like them?"
He couldn't even recall the face of his own supposed mentor, having never even deigned to meet the tom. It would have been pointless considering that was in the time frame where he elected to live outside of camp, only venturing back to the grayscale walls of SunClan's hole-in-the-wall camp to shelter from the rain or make sure his siblings were not the subject of anyone's outrage. He could only hope Orchidpaw had a better relationship with her own mentor.
(she doesn't even have an official one yet ehehehehh i'll make it up) "They're a good teacher," Orchidpaw said, sinking down to tear off a piece of the lemming, enjoying the freshkill taste. Too often she had to wait, to give the elders her food and take the cold meat from the prey pile, and the still warm catch was a luxury. After she had eaten her share, she pushed it over to Crow. "They're pretty experienced, but they pry a little about things I'd rather not talk about."
Many of the mentors were concerned that she'd stagnate in her progress, that she'd freeze up like her sister if she didn't process the nightmares that woke up on a nightly basis. But for Orchidpaw, the two things were disconnected, and she didn't want to relive her trauma in front of a group of worry-eyed warriors. So she eluded the questions, giving half-answers, until they gave up. But as a result there was no one she could share her feelings with, and they were constantly churning under the calm demeanor she put on. She wasn't sure what they would build up to, but she knew it wouldn't be pretty.
After he'd finished his portion of the lemming and they'd discarded the bones, she motioned for him to lead the way to the nearby hollow. As they walked, she found her own curiosity rising again. "Did you have a mentor back in Sunclan? You're about my age, and I started training late, so you should theoretically know more than me." She tried to phrase the blunt question as delicately as possible, without making it sound like she was demeaning his abilities.
The taste of the lemming brought back bittersweet memories, but as they ate, he focused on what she was saying rather than his own reverie and was almost relieved when the prey was finished off. An ebony ear flicked at the gentle probe of her questions, but he didn't take offense to it, instead conflicted on if he wanted to be fully honest in his response or dance around the details. Deciding he trusted Orchidpaw, Crow replied, "Theoretically, I really should. I did have a mentor but to be honest, if you asked what his name was or what he looked like, I couldn't tell you. I stopped living in camp after I was apprenticed because...." Hesitation hung heavy in his breath, throat tightening and his claws threatening to prick into the earth, as his own unresolved feelings surfaced. "Well, our leader announced that my father would be killed for a crime I know he didn't commit. He ended up being cast out of SunClan, but everyone still saw us as kits of a murderer, so it didn't make things any easier."
He reserved the rest of his sordid tale-- his propensity towards violent outbursts, the war and his father's return, how he had turned his back on the tom for choosing saving Jetfire over coming back for his kits-- for another time. Those were things that he had yet to resolve within himself and were not things he wanted to burden his budding friendship with.
